


Setting the Cene

by ERNest



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: Flirting, Friendship/Love, Other, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-15 18:49:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18675412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ERNest/pseuds/ERNest
Summary: A bunch of Cene Sixheart ficlets, mostly focused on Cene/Ibex. Updates whenever I write more.





	Setting the Cene

**Author's Note:**

  * For [beeelderly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/beeelderly/gifts).



    Cene Sixheart is accustomed to keeping secret the identities of their clients, and they’re very good at what they do. Their favorite, a Candidate, comes for them for maintenance on his Divine, a fact known by several in the Diaspora. _Much_  less widely advertised is how often the man who comes to their shop is a framework in which Righteousness is seated. But Cene knows that these are no less Ibex than Ibex himself is, and perhaps even more so. By now they probably understand more about the brains of machines than organic ones, which could explain why they are perfectly comfortable running diagnostics on his several bodies when Ibex in the flesh gets them flustered. They smile but know better than to mention it when he leans into their touch.

     As for their other major customer, Cene and perhaps three others know whose intelligence is contained therein, but Liberty and Discovery do not know themselves. This is by design, and Cene swore that they would not be the one to reveal their origins to them. It helps tremendously that the synthetic now known as AuDy wears a different body than what they were before, but every once in a while a turn of phrase or manner of movement will remind them of the Divines who did or said the same thing two decades ago now. For ten years they were gone without a trace, as was their wont, and now it’s been another ten years since a parking attendant came to Cene’s shop with a slip of paper clutched in their hand and said “I don’t know what I am, but I’m told that you’re the best.”

     AuDy is not small by any means, but Cene will occasionally suffer double vision and think they’re speaking to someone roughly the same shape but much larger. At these times they strangle their tongue on the words Liberty and Discovery. But AuDy is their friend too, though a different person now, and Cene is very good at what they do.

*

     “I just. I know I could make so many lives better if people only knew how to listen.” Ibex clenches his hand against his will, making the cheap Styrofoam cup spurt cheap coffee on the sleeve of his expensive suit. Cene leaps into action to minimize the damage while a part of their mind tries to figure out if the problem is in the hardware or the software. Alternately, even humans can have weird glitches and the man was overcome by his own convictions for a moment.

     “You can, and they _will_  listen,” Cene answers soothingly as they let a cleaning drone take over the rescue mission. “Is your suit going to be okay?”

     “Yes, it should be fine,” Ibex says as he shrugs it off and drapes it over a chair. “If not, I’ll buy a new one.”

     The problem remains however, of an Ibex in shirtsleeves in their consulting office. They hurriedly take a swallow of that same cheap coffee to cover their awe at him, and immediately resolve to invest in something better than Constellation Coffee, because this stuff is _vile_. But when they stop coughing they continue to sip and gaze at him over the edge of their cup.

     The man is _built_ , which shouldn’t surprise them when they helped build this body by translating flesh to mesh. But it’s different when they’re inspecting a prototype or when he’s up on an exam table with just enough skin exposed to peel it back so they can run their regular diagnostic tests.

*

     “People like you starve, and…” Ibex crosses his arms. “You’re staring.”

     “Yeah.” Cene notices how dreamy they sound and wrinkle their nose. “It’s because you’re very rude. Everyone thinks your whole MO is to turn up the charm until people bend to your will, so it’s astounding how rude you actually are.” They chuckle. “I bet the majority don’t even notice, either.”

     “Really. You don’t find me charming?”

     “Of course I do. You’re also abrupt and abrasive. Anything you can fashion into a tool, right?”

     “Why, Cene!” Ibex goes for a sensual lean against a table and fails to stick the landing, but they’re smitten anyway. “You make me sound like I manipulate everything behind the scenes!”

     “Oh sorry, my mistake. I must have had you confused with some _other_  Candidate of Righteousness.” They sweep a bow of mock apology.

*

     "You can't just use your Divine to hack into the security cameras in my home!"

     "Why not? It let me set up this candlelight dinner without getting caught, didn't it?"

     "So the ends justify the means? A relationship is built on trust, Ibex." But they keep petting their new Just-A-Dog.

*

     When Ibex startles awake, Cene is ready to keep a steady hand on him at all times. They’ve done this dance before and know what will calm him on nights like these.

     “You were dreaming of Maryland again, weren’t you?” This is _not_  a way to calm him, but it needs to be said.

     “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” His shoulders draw in tight like they always do when he lies about something important to him instead of the countless little lies he uses to better sell a truth. “You know I don’t dream.”

     “Ibex…” They switch to lightly grazing the skin with their fingernails, and centimeter by centimeter he relaxes into the touch.

     “I suppose I was. Do you think…” He catches Cene’s hand with his and holds them both near his shoulder. “Do you think she’d be proud of what I’ve built here, Cene?”

     “I really couldn’t say. I’ve only met her through what you’ve told me.” They squeeze, regular as a heartbeat. “Are _you_  proud of what you’ve built here?”

     “Well of course.” His lips quirk. “Most days, anyway. And most days that’s enough.”

     Cene nods. “I’d be one of the last ones to say a person starts and ends with just themself, since everything ripples out to the edges of existence and back in. But you _are_  that piece of existence you know best, so I say you’re doing fine.”


End file.
